Optimum concentration of iodine contrast agent injection for best stent visualization using Neuroform Atlas stent during stent-assisted coil embolization: Case reviews based on experiments.

Background: The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of contrast agent concentration (Conc) on the visibility of Neuroform Atlas and in clinical cases.

Methods: A plastic tube was filled with several Conc. in saline (experiment 1) and blood (experiment 2).

Effects of reduced dialysis fluid flow in hemodialysis.

Background: Hemodialysis is a treatment in which uremic toxins and excess water content are removed from the blood with a dialyzer and dialysis fluid. The efficiency of hemodialysis is strongly influenced by the following 3 parameters: the blood flow rate (QB), the dialysis fluid flow rate (QD), and the overall mass transfer area coefficient (K0A), an index of a dialyzer's performance. The flow ratio (QB : QD) to obtain a well-balanced dialysis efficiency is generally said to be 1 : 2.

Use of ultrasonic cleansing in managing the couplers of dialyzer systems.

Dialysis-related complications have become a major concern as the number of patients receiving long-term maintenance dialysis increases. One cause of complications is contamination of the dialysis fluid. When dialysis fluid contaminated by bacteria or endotoxin (ET) or both has been used for a long time, cytokine production in vivo is enhanced and can lead to such complications as dialysis amyloidosis.

The performance evaluation of endotoxin retentive filters in haemodialysis.

Background: Hemodialysis is a method for removing uremic toxins and water directly from the blood into a dialysis fluid through an artificial semipermeable membrane called a dialyzer. The ability of the dialyzer to remove uremic toxins has steadily improved, but the likelihood has also increased that bioactive substances, such as bacterial endotoxin (ET) fragments, can be transferred from the dialysis fluid into the patient's blood through the phenomena of back-diffusion and back-filtration in the dialyzer. Therefore, further efforts to improve the quality of water are required.

Evaluation of the cavotricuspid isthmus and right atrium by multidetector-row computed tomography in patients with common atrial flutter.

The sizes of the right atrium (RA), cavotricuspid isthmus, and Eustachian valve are predictors of success of radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial flutter (AFL). We examined the relationship between the sizes of cavotricuspid isthmus as measured by multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT) and fluoroscopy. We used eight-detector MDCT to measure the tricuspid isthmus of 23 patients prior to linear ablation for common AFL.

Detection of coronary plaque by computed tomography with a novel plaque analysis system, 'Plaque Map', and comparison with intravascular ultrasound and angioscopy.

Background: Previous reports suggest that plaque may be characterized by the computed tomography (CT) number, but there is not a comprehensive method for evaluating the gray-scale CT image of the coronary artery obtained by multi-detector row CT (MDCT).

Methods And Results: Forty-five patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) underwent MDCT either 3-4 weeks after the onset of acute myocardial infarction (n=24) or within 1 week after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with unstable angina (UA; n=21). The cross-sections obtained at intervals of 5 mm were converted to numerical data and a 'plaque map' was drawn using the color-based isometric line method and bird's eye view.